Recording Details

Abstract

In the late 80s it became clear through notable work by Witten and others that there is a deep connection between (2+1) gravity and Chern-Simons theory making it possible to quantize. In the case where the cosmological constant is negative, spacetime has a boundary and classically there are black holes. We will study the features of this theory as an arena for seeing the simple realization of the Holographic Principle and the duality between quantum gravity theories in asymptotically Anti-deSitter space and conformal field theories.
Extensions and open problems with the theory will also be discussed.